Over 25 species of marine fish and 3 species of marine invertebrates are currently listed as threatened, endangered or are candidates for listing in the Georgia Basin/ Puget Sound region. To recover declining species and to keep others abundant, it is important to monitor species distribution and abundance and note population trends. To supplement ongoing research projects, REEF Environmental Education Foundation has developed a way for recreational SCUBA divers to help observe and track local marine life. Divers record the types of fish that they see and the relative abundance of each species while on their dive. Afterwards, they complete a survey form with the information that they’ve collected. The forms are then sent to the REEF Foundation and entered into a national database that is accessible to anyone through the internet.

Abby Sine, a recent graduate from the University of Washington and SeaDoc 2004 summer research assistant, investigated whether it was practical to use volunteer SCUBA divers and the REEF survey technique to help track the distribution and abundance of declining marine fish and invertebrate populations. Her work also helped determine whether encouraging volunteer diver surveys will help to create a greater sense of stewardship towards the local marine environment.

View the full report here (pdf)

As part of his senior high school project, Travis Parker prepares
to monitor the Bell Island Bottomfish Recovery Zone thanks
to SeaDoc Society support.

Stranded marine mammals have been sighted and collected in the San Juan Islands, Washington since 1985. To date, the bulk of information collected from these animals has been biological data. With the recent interest in diseases that may be important for causing these strandings, there also has been interest in determining where these animals strand. Are there specific sites, beach types, or oceanographic features that make some areas accumulate more stranded carcasses than others? As part of her senior honors thesis at the University of Washington, Morgan Sternberg, a 2003 summer intern with the SeaDoc Society, is working with the SeaDoc Society and The Whale Museum (Friday Harbor, Washington) to answer this question. The information learned will be very useful in helping to maximize collection of stranded species for collection of biological data and disease testing. Additionally, this information will be used to heighten surveillance at higher collection stranding sites during disease outbreaks.

Drift cards are common tools used to understand currents and the upstream effect. Terrie Klinger at the University of Washington has been conducting a drift card study to better comprehend the current system around the San Juan Islands. If known drift card deposition information is spatially correlative to marine mammal strandings, then drift card data may help determine where stranded marine mammals died. A potential correlation between drift cards and stranded marine mammals also could help oceanographers understand if the dispersal effects of passive objects are similar for large and small matter.

A poster outlining this research in more detail is available as a PDF here.

Morgan Sternberg, University of Washington summer intern, collects a dead harbor seal pup. Information collected will be useful in assessing the role diseases play in strandings.

Dr. Joe Gaydos, staff scientist, examines the teeth of an anesthetized river otter.

The river otter (Lontra canadensis) is an aquatic mammal that ranges over much of North America. Within marine ecosystems like Washington's inland sea (the Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, and Strait of Juan de Fuca), river otters rely on healthy subtidal and intertidal zones. In this marine habitat they eat numerous species of fish and invertebrates and play an important role in the near-shore marine ecosystem. Disease is thought to regulate river otter density and investigation into the diseases of free-ranging and captive river otters is part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission's (SSC) primary conservation priority for this species. Unfortunately, very little is known about diseases that are important to marine-foraging river otters. With assistance from the Morris Animal Foundation, the SeaDoc Society is studying the disease threats facing marine-foraging river otters. This work will help us better understand and protect these important mammals. Additionally, this work will provide important information on the role that river otter may play in the epidemiology of diseases that may be important to humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife species.

To see some of the findings from this work see this PDF